Return
by Kieno0324
Summary: A one shot. I can't give a summary without giving it away. MaiNaru with a hint MasakoJohn! Please Review


This is sort of an AU, but also sticks sort of to the story. This is also wishful thinking on my part. Probably for a lot of you out there as well. Just drop me a review and tell me what you think.

Masako wasn't sure when the last time was that she had entered SPR. It had been a while. Almost three years. She'd traveled to England and America and had gained even more popularity. But she found she no longer wanted that. All she had wanted the whole time she'd been traveling was to return to Japan and all her friends at SPR. And as she walked into the building she realized she was not there to see Naru but to see if her friends still played café at his office.

She gave a secret smile, anyone that looked at Naru as he yelled at Mai for letting them set up camp could see that he didn't really mind. Masako stepped out of the elevator and padded quietly towards the office. She knocked and a female voice called for her to come in. Masako did so and closed the door behind her. When she looked at Naru's office she saw the door was open and the normal occupant was missing. She looked at Lin's office to see his door was open and he was gone as well.

Her attention was then turned to the small kitchen where she found Mai. She shook her head. The girl's hair was still very short and she still looked like a teenager. Masako waved when Mai looked over her shoulder to see who had entered and the psychic didn't need powers to know the girl's face split into a wide grin.

"Masako! I didn't know you were back! Sit down, I'll bring you a cup of tea in a second!" Mai called and Masako sat down on the now slightly worn leather couch. She smiled as she remembered how Mai had always been trying to get Naru to buy a different couch. Since the couch was still in the office Masako didn't take long to figure out who had won the argument.

Masako crossed her legs and placed her hands on her knees as she waited on Mai to come out. She looked up as she heard footsteps and felt her mouth hit the ground when she saw the other woman. Mai's stomach was swollen very slightly, Masako would estimate four months into the pregnancy, and on Mai's left hand Masako saw a wedding band.

"Mai, you're pregnant." Masako said dumbly. When she looked back later she realized how stupid she really sounded. But at the time it had been the only thing that her brain could form into an actual sentence. She took the teacup Mai handed her and a comfortable silence enveloped them for a few moments.

"When did you get pregnant?" Masako finally asked as she set the teacup on the coffee table. She wondered briefly why Naru had bought the thing when he never drank coffee. Maybe it was just a convenience like many other things in life.

"A couple of months ago! We've already got the baby's room decorated, half pink and half blue! _He_ thinks I obviously don't know what I'm talking about when I say I'm going to have a baby girl!" Mai huffed and Masako blinked. She was missing something, she knew that. She hadn't even known Mai was married.

"Mai, who on earth did you marry?" Masako asked as Mai took a breather. The look Mai gave Masako made the psychic think she had committed the worse sin on the whole planet. Masako could at least defend herself with the knowledge that she really didn't know who Mai was married to!

"We, actually I, sent you an invitation! Oh, whoops!" Mai suddenly looked embarrassed before putting her hand to her cheek. "I sent it to your Japanese address! You must have already been gone on your trip!" she continued and Masako shook her head with a smile. At least one thing hadn't changed, Mai was still Mai no matter who her mystery husband was.

"Well at the least tell me who you married!" Masako cried as Mai went into another ranting about how silly she felt. The other girl froze before smiling and standing up. Masako watched as she went to her desk and pulled out a white leather bound book which Masako saw when Mai handed her the book had wedding bells pressed into the leather.

Masako opened the book and almost dropped it when she saw the first picture of the wedding couple staring up at her. Mai looked sweet in her white wedding kimono with a bright blush staining her cheeks. Masako noticed that the girl was trying to hide her face but the man standing beside her seemed determined to make her look into the camera.

"You married….Naru?" Masako asked uncertainly. She wondered briefly if it was a joke but then she looked at Mai and saw the girl rubbing her stomach with a soft smile on her face and Masako knew that she wasn't being tricked. She didn't feel jealous over the fact Mai had married Naru, if she wanted to be completely honest she felt relieved. She didn't know why she felt relieved, she just did. Almost as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Yes." Masako had to keep from laughing at the blush that was spreading like a wildfire across her face. She watched as Mai tried to hide her blush and Masako looked back down at the wedding album and blinked as she reached the picture where Naru and Mai were feeding cake to each other. She was surprised that Mai hadn't pushed the cake into Naru's face but what made her laugh were the figures in the background.

Ayako had one of the wooden folding chairs above her head and Takigawa was pleading with her. Masako saw John trying to grab the chair from Ayako and normally it wouldn't have been so funny. Except for the fact that no one seemed to realize what was going on behind the newly wedded couple.

"How did it happen?" Masako was surprised to hear herself asking but then she found that since she currently had the lack of a love life and she had missed the wedding the least Mai owed her was the whole story!

"Um…well, I'm not exactly sure. It was sort of a tradition when I first started that all of us, Naru, Lin, and myself, went to lunch together. Then all of a sudden Lin stopped coming and it was just Naru and me. It was awkward at the beginning but then we started to actually talk and I realized Naru wasn't such a 'Naru', I guess.

"Then on my birthday last year I found a whole bouquet of sunflowers on my desk with a note telling me to meet him at the café around the corner. I went down and he was there with an engagement ring." Mai smiled and Masako couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face.

"I'm happy for you, Mai." Masako said and the psychic was glad to find that she really meant what she had said. She was truly happy for Mai.

Both women blinked as suddenly the door opened and Lin entered looking ruffled and windblown. Masako put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. The man's coat was hanging from his shoulders and most of his hair was falling in his eyes. He was holding a white plastic bag and Masako shook her head before another man followed Lin into the office, not looking nearly as ruffled. Masako felt her jaw drop.

Naru was standing there in his normal black pants and shoes but what really caused Masako's mouth to hit the floor was his shirt. It was _not_ black but a deep blue that brought out the color in her eyes.

"Oh, you're back with the food!" Mai jumped up from her seat and took the bag from Lin and dug through it and found a box of crackers that she pulled out and began to snack on like crazy before Naru gently took it away from her.

"Mai, don't inhale the box." he said and Masako saw that Lin was glaring at the pregnant women and Masako swallowed her laugh. She had never seen Lin look so humorous in all her time of knowing him and Naru.

"I am _not_ going back down to that animal house you call a grocery store!" the Chinese man growled before he went into his office and shut the door forcefully and Mai giggled slightly.

"Well, Mai, I really have to go. I promised John I'd meet him at the airport to pick his parents up." Masako said. Naru finally noticed the psychic was there and Masako gave him a small smile before hugging Mai who seemed surprised.

"John's parents?" Mai questioned as Masako opened the door. Masako placed her left hand on the edge of the door and smiled before winking as Mai saw the ring on her finger.

"You're not the only one with secrets." she said and she shut the door and Mai gave a small smile before looking at Naru who looked curious.

"What were you two talking about?" he asked. He saw the devious look in his wife's eyes and immediately headed for his office without running. "Forget I asked! Just forget I asked!"

Mai giggled as he slammed his door shut as well before she picked the wedding album up and sighed before she went to put it back in her desk. 'Welcome home, Masako.' Somehow Mai knew that she would be attending a wedding soon, she just hoped it would be after the baby was born. She didn't want to have to go looking like a watermelon.

"Mai, tea." she glared over her shoulder at the once again closed door. Even though Masako had been gone for three years, few things had changed. Naru still didn't know the meaning of the word 'please'.


End file.
